Bye bye Frontline

Whilst in France recently I stopped in a layby to make tea and Jack went outside to play. He came back with 3 ticks, one of them the most enormous I’ve ever seen. He’s Frontlined regularly so I was unsure how this could happen so I went to consult a vet. Apparently Frontline no longer works effectively according to the French vet, and a Seresto collar is much cheaper and lasts for up to 8 months at a time for €32.

When I got back to the UK I checked all of this out and apparently there is also an Seresto tablet. However the tablet does not stop ticks biting it only puts them off once they have. The collar actually prevents them biting in the first place. The UK vet also charged £32 so I got one there and then.

Mind you if you don’t travel outside the UK Frontline may still be effective for you. Jack has never had a tick or flea since we started using it. But it is massively expensive!

Seresto collar

The other thing to consider is Leishmaniasis. This is an infection after being bitten by a sand fly and is currently incurable in dogs, While manageable, it can easily lead to death in some dogs. Scalibor is currently the only collar that prevents sand fly bites and it’s relatively cheap at about £17 for a collar that lasts about 6 months. As we’re headed off to Spain and Portugal where most sand flies are prevalent I’ll be getting Jack one before we leave.